Back in December, experimental electronic composer Holly Herndon teamed up with Indiana footwork producer Jlin for the new song “Godmother.” And now, she’s announced a whole new album called PROTO, the follow-up to her 2015 LP Platform. Like “Godmother,” the rest of PROTO, which will be out in May, was created in collaboration with an ensemble of vocalists and developers and Spawn, “an inhuman intelligence housed in a DIY souped-up gaming PC.”

“There’s a pervasive narrative of technology as dehumanizing,” Herndon says in a statement. “We stand in contrast to that. It’s not like we want to run away; we’re very much running towards it, but on our terms. Choosing to work with an ensemble of humans is part of our protocol. I don’t want to live in a world in which humans are automated off stage. I want an A.I. to be raised to appreciate and interact with that beauty.”

PROTO includes several “live training ceremonies” conducted in Berlin, in which hundreds of people gathered to teach Spawn how to identify and reinterpret unfamiliar sounds in church-esque call-and-response singing sessions. And today, Herndon has shared new song “Eternal,” which was inspired by the sci-fi concept of eternal love through mind uploading. According to a press release, the accompanying music video was “constructed from footage processed from the perspective of an intelligent machine, analysing and searching for a face, yearning for a connection.” Watch and listen below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Birth”
02 “Alienation”
03 “Canaan (Live Training)”
04 “Eternal”
05 “Crawler”
06 “Extreme Love” (Feat. Lily Anna Hayes & Jenna Sutela)
07 “Frontier”
08 “Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt”
09 “SWIM”
10 “Evening Shades (Live Training)”
11 “Bridge” (Feat. Martine Syms)
12 “Godmother” (Feat. Jlin)
13 “Last Gasp”

TOUR DATES:
04/27 Krems, AT @ Donau Festival
05/18 Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
05/20 San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
05/22 Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
07/19 Barcelona, ES @ Sonar By Day – SonarHall
07/20 Manchester, UK @ Manchester International Festival

PROTO is out 5/10 on 4AD. Pre-order it here.

CREDIT: Boris Camaca